BLACK Country bareknuckle legend The Tipton Slasher was a friend of
Charles Dickens and battled 10 paternity suits from women who claimed he
made them pregnant.

Those are just two of the bombshells uncovered by historian Chris
Smith while carrying out research on a book on one of Britain's
most famous, and feared, fighters.

The picture painted of William Perry - dubbed "K-Legs"
because childhood rickets had deformed the right limb - is a long way
from the violent, barroom brawler depicted by history. "He had to
put up with an awful lot," said Chris, "and it seems he did
put up with it.

"When he ran his two pubs, one in West Bromwich, one in
Wolverhampton, there are a number of cases where he appeared in court
because people would get drunk and want to take on the ex-champion of
England.

"In those instances, Perry would be very restrained. He would
not take advantage of them. He would throw them out rather than do them
damage."

Perry, whose statue stands in Tipton's Coronation Gardens, was
a darling of the media during his bloody career.

And he mixed in very high circles, 62-year-old Chris has
discovered.

"It seems as if he knew people like Dickens," the author
said, "and he certainly knew (Vanity Fair author) William Makepeace
Thackeray. "They met after American actress Adah Menken, at the
time the most famous actress in the world, came over here.

"She became famous for one role in a play called Marengo. At
the end of the play, she rode across stage on a horse, which was unusual
enough.

"But she was, to all intent and purpose, naked.

"Adah was, in fact, wearing a bodystocking, but at a time when
showing an ankle was considered flighty, this caused quite a stir. She
played the role across the world.

"She invited Dickens and Thackeray to her parties, and she
threw a party most nights. But she had been married to a boxer and was
very much at home with the boxing fraternity. That's where Perry
comes into the picture.

Perry's rags-to-riches-to-rags story has seeped into folklore.

He had only 11 contests, losing three, but his bravery drew an army
of supporters - and a number of fraudsters who pretended to be The
Slasher.

"There are many incidents where the Tipton Slasher was
reported as doing this or that when he hadn't done those things at
all," explained Chris.

"There was one individual who was forever in trouble for
poaching and assaulting police officers. He always gave his name as the
Tipton Slasher.

"Perry didn't mind, didn't mind at all. The only
time he took exception was when reports surfaced that he and his family
were in the workhouse in Gateshead.

"He responded in the papers to those rumours and even offered
to confront his namesake."

And there were women who attempted to take a slice of the
fighter's fortune by claiming he had fathered their child.

The allegations seem untrue. Perry was devoted to wife Ann Maria
Challingworth - the couple had a son together - and died of drink only
months after she was buried.

Author | In the days before DNA tests, the champ successfully
defended 10 paternity suits, some downright ludicrous.

"A Portsmouth girl claimed said she had a child by the Tipton
Slasher," said Chris.

"Her friend gave evidence and described him as 5ft 2ins and 14
stone."

What cannot be denied is he was a very, very hard man, the product
of a teak-tough background.

Born in 1819, he first found employment on the barges and was given
the job of manhandling his way to the front of the queue at locks to
ensure his was the first longboat through.

It was a recipe for brawls on an almost daily basis. From there,
Perry travelled to London to work as a navvy, digging out canals and
toiling over railway tracks.

It was during his time in the capital city that Perry honed his
boxing skills in a gym above the Lowndes Arms pub.

Charles Dickens He was only 16 when he made his debut against
Barney Dogherty, the police intervening after seven rounds of the
Mortlake contest.

The purse for that day's work was five guineas.

The pair resumed hostilities on the same day at Lechmore Common.
This time Perry, eager to get the job done before the Old Bill arrived,
prevailed in six.

From all accounts, Perry was a man who possessed striking good
looks, but those classic features were chiselled away by a succession of
ring wars.

Before he reached 21, a ringside reporter described him as being
without "headrails" - front teeth.

Those were knocked out by Jem Scunner in a 31 round clash for the
Black Country title. On that occasion, 20 guineas was on the table -
proof of Perry's growing appeal.

He first made headlines in July 7, 1842, with a 70 round draw
against American Charles Freeman, a giant of a man who stood 6ft 10ins
tall and weighed 20 stones. Perry earned plaudits for his bravery in a
David v Goliath struggle...and shared a purse of 200 guineas.

Freeman's sheer bulk proved too much in the return five months
later. Exhausted, Perry was disqualified in the 38th round for going
down without being hit.

His English title victory proved the most epic. It lasted a
staggering 133 rounds before Tass Parker was ruled out, again for going
down without a punch landed.

Perry's final contest, on June 16, 1857, destroyed him
financially.

It was against Tom Sayers, a man who was just starting on a fistic
journey that would see him attain legendary status.

The Slasher was 38 and battlescarred but sure he could easily whip
the young upstart. It was, in his eyes, man against boy and Perry bet
every-thing - and I mean everything - on victory.

"At that time, Sayers did not have much of a reputation,"
explained Chris, "and The Slasher mortgaged his pub and bet
everything on winning."

He was destroyed in one hour, 42 minutes and 10 rounds of action.
Perry took terrible punishment, but was praised for his courage.

A reporter noted: "The Slasher, evidently, was fast going and
the game old fellow was almost abroad.

"His dial was tremendously punished and his lips so lacerated
that he presented a piteous appearance. His teeth had long gone, but he
still grinned with bloody gums."

"He lost everything," said Chris.

"There were whip-rounds after the bout and with the money
raised he got a pub. But he died with very little money. When his wife
died, he turned to drink and died eight months later."

Perry, landlord of The Champion, West Bromwich, and The
Bricklayer's Arms, Wolverhampton, passed away on Christmas Eve,
1880, and was buried in St John's Church, Dudley.

In a land of tough men, Perry stood out as harder than the nails
churned out in his home town.

Chris will give a talk on the char-|ismatic champ - "The Life
and Loves of the Tipton Slasher" at Dudley Library on Tuesday,
November 24, starting at 2.30.

There are many incidents where the Tipton Slasher was reported as
doing this or that when he hadn't done those things at all
Historian Chris Smith

CAPTION(S):

The Tipton Slasher, one of the best known prize fighters in the
country - |his real name was William Perry and he was born in Park Lane,
Tipton

William Perry's grave in St John's Church, Dudley

Author Charles Dickens

William Perry's Champion Pub, in Spon Lane, West Bromwich, a
portrait of the Tipton Slasher, and the fighter in action, and his
statue in Tipton

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